Six of the seven sectors — especially insurance and real estate — experienced robust buying interests this week which saw BMI, a Fitch company, aver that Qatar, which can easily defend its foreign exchange peg with the Greenback, has the ability to inject dollar liquidity in order to close the gap between the onshore and offshore rates.
Foreign institutions were extremely bullish and there was increasing buying support from non-Qatari individuals as the bourse’s main barometer gained 0.77% this week which saw Finance Minister HE Ali Sherif al-Emadi project Qatar’s 2018 growth at 2.5% to 3% and assumes oil price at $45 a barrel in the general budget.
However, local retail investors and domestic funds turned bearish this week which saw the Qatar Central Bank governor Sheikh Abdulla bin Saoud al-Thani saying its global reserves are twice the monetary, thus enabling it defend the currency.
Islamic stocks however saw marginal decline in an otherwise bullish market this week which saw al-Emadi stress that Qatar would provide subsidies to strategic industries.
The market was rather skewed towards gainers this week which witnessed industrials, banking and realty counters together accounted for more than 77% of total trading volume.
The industrials sector accounted for 29% of the total volume, banks and financial services and realty (24% each), telecom (10%), transport (7%), consumer goods (3%) and insurance (2%) this week which featured a Moody’s report that the Gulf banks’ outlook is "stable", reflecting the strong financial fundamentals; even as fiscal and geopolitical risks pose challenges.
The banks and financial services’ share in total trade turnover was 38%, industrials (24%), real estate (15%), transport (8%), telecom and consumer goods (7% each), and insurance (3%) this week which saw no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.
More than 64% of the stocks extended gains with major movers being Qatar Insurance, Ezdan, Gulf International Services, QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Doha bank, QIIB, Alijarah Holding, Aamal Company, Ooredoo, Widam Food and Mannai Corporation.
Nevertheless, Commercial Bank, Ahli Bank Qatar, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Qatar First Bank, Islamic Holding Group, Vodafone Qatar, Gulf Warehousing and Medicare Group were among the losers this week.
Non-Qatari funds turned net buyers to the tune of QR102.29mn against net sellers of QR89mn the previous week.
Non-Qatari individuals’ net buying increased to QR8.55mn compared to QR2.86mn the week ended November 30.
However, domestic funds turned net sellers to the extent of QR86.76mn against net buyers of QR4.43mn a week ago.
Local retail investors were net profit takers to the tune of QR24.08mn compared with net buyers of QR81.72mn the previous week.
Total trade volume fell 4% to 58.51mn shares, value by 21% to QR1.13bn and deals by 6% to 21,298.
The insurance sector reported 47% plunge in trade volume to 1.38mn equities, 58% in value to QR31.48mn and 31% in transactions to 693.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume plummeted 46% to 1.6mn stocks, value by 14% to QR64.38mn and deals by 26% to 1,353.
There was 31% shrinkage in the transport sector’s trade volume to 4.25mn shares, 34% in value to QR93.52mn and 34% in transactions to 1,636.
The telecom sector’s trade volume tanked 25% to 6.09mn equities, value by 28% to QR71.87mn and deals by 19% to 1,811.
The banks and financial services sector saw 11% decline in trade volume to 14.21mn stocks, 29% in value to QR431.32mn and 8% in transactions to 6,024.
However, the real estate sector’s trade volume soared 36% to 13.95mn shares, value by 30% to QR166.12mn and deals by 58% to 5,259.
The market witnessed 16% expansion in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 17.03mn equities but on 12% slump in value to QR266.61mn and 14% in transactions to 4,522.
Business / Business
Index gains as six of the seven sectors experience robust buying interests
The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) was on a positive trajectory this week which saw the global index provider MSCI decide to continue to use official Qatari riyal foreign exchange rates in Qatari indices.
